Fugue

After a two-year disappearance, free-spirited Alicja (screenwriter Gabriela Muskala) is reunited with her parents, husband and young son despite having no memory of them. Suddenly thrust back into a domestic life she has no recollection of choosing, Alicja struggles to reconcile her new and unfamiliar roles of dependability with the unshackled independence sprung by her recent mental break. With surreal, icy imagery and a seductively hypnotic atmosphere, director Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s (The Lure) sophomore feature burrows into the landscape of Alicja’s mind, excavating the societal burdens and duties expected of women, and whether personal freedom is truly attainable. Fugue evokes the social taboos around motherhood and the pressure on women to accept maternity without hesitation or reflection, as though the biological capacity of giving birth means that every woman should be willing to be a mother. A dizzying psychological puzzle of identity and self-discovery. Mesmerizing from the jaw-dropping first frame to the last.